Best Pizza in or around Mountain View?

We're having a little house party and we don't want to have to resort to one of the chains. A local mentioned "Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's" as well as "Rancho Pizza Take and Bake". Delivery or Take Out is fine. What do you guys think?

I like Amici's better than Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi's despite its being a chain.

I don't know if Palo Alto is too far, but you might consider Howie's Artisan Pizza right by Stanford. Was a big hit at my recent party. Better quality than your usual neighborhood pizza place --- fresh organic ingredients cooked properly --- and maybe a little pricier as well, but not bad.

I have learned that there is a Tony an Alba's at 619 Escuela Ave in MV. I loved them back in the early 90s in San Jose but that was before I had better tastebuds. I'm sure they are a few notches better than FJL's which I think have fallen out of favor with me as well for most of their offerings.

FJLT, T&A, Applewood in Menlo Park are all of a piece. Medium thick with the crust and toppings. Beloved in the mid 90's, not as popular now.

Knowing what kind of pizza you like makes a difference.

Pizz'a Chicago, on the south Palo Alto border, serves fairly deep dish (like stuffed?), and I rather like it. I remember getting some kind of jalapeno topped. Paxti's downtown is similar, and also good, but further from Mountain View.

A number of the restaurants around make high end pizza, like La Strada and their wood fired oven, babbo's in Stanford Shopping Center. These would be your first choices if you want Gourmet.

There's Oregano's in Los Altos. I ate there once and was neither impressed nor unimpressed. Never went back. It is "not a chain", though.

Of the local delivery options, I personally like Pizza My Heart when I order thin crust. The thick crust is dull. If you like thin crust ny style, Amici's might be a good choice unless it's terribly lowbrow.

Thank you for your replies! Unfortunately, I asked for the info a little too late and went to grab the pies just before you guys replied. We ended up trying the Rancho Take and Bake with disappointing results. The pizza tastes like a gussied up premium frozen pizza from the supermarket. What can I say? To damn with faint praise, it's better than Chuck E. Cheese.

I agree FJL is a bit "old school" but their stromboli is a favorite and nicely priced large pizza. It's not part of the new wave boutique stuff with froufrou toppings and obsession over the oven geometry and fuel, but for meat heavy pizza which tastes good cold the next day, it's where I go when in the south bay.

Again this wont substitute for say defina/a16/beretta/cheeseboard/pizzalio but it's basically the same price as "the chains" and way the hell better for vaguely the same style minus the prefab suckage.